Buster Merryfield
Buster Merryfield ( 27 November 1920 (-1999) is was an English actor and army officer best known to who played Albert Trotter in the BBC and GOLD sitcom Only Fools and Horses from 1985 to 1996. Pre OFAH Career Born Harry Merryfield on the 27th November 1920 in Battersea, London. Merryfield had a sister who died aged 8 years old. Buster served in the forces during the war (No pun intended). Buster was a keen boxer. He was a keen amateur actor and director. Buster became a professional actor aged 57. In early 1984, Buster met Lennard Pearce when they worked on a TV series together called Shroud For A Nightingale. Lennard was starring in hit sitcom Only Fools And Horses as Grandad Trotter - (Edward Trotter). Only Fools And Horses In December 1984, Lennard Pearce took ill during filming of the 4th series of Only Fools And Horses. Lennard sadly died in mid December of a second heart attack. The OFAH cast and crew grieved for Lennard but decided to bring in Grandad's younger brother Albert Trotter. The shows producer Ray Butt received many letters from out of work actors/unknown actors who said they knew Lennard, and many of the letters contained lots of waffle. But one letter was quite concise, this letter was from Buster Merryfield. Ray was impressed, so the following day, on New Years Day 1985, he invited Buster to the BBCTV Centre in Wood Lane, and Buster then landed the role of Albert Trotter in early January 1985. He soon filmed his first scenes, on location, for the episode Hole in One, outside a pub in West London which dubbed as The Nag's Head. A few days later, he filmed the funeral scenes for "Grandad", which was actually to be the character's first on screen appearance. These scenes were filmed at a cemetery in West London. On many occasions, TV shows are filmed out of sequence to how they appear on the TV. Buster was worried that he had taken on too much by filming OFAH as well as doing theatre work in the evening, but he soon settled into the role, and the show was not on all year round, meaning Buster had much more free time inbetween series. Buster soon became a household name as Albert Trotter. Albert became famous for his catchphrase "during the war". Buster played Albert for over 11 years. His last episode as Albert was Time on Our Hands, which is where the Trotters became millionaires. After Only Fools And Horses Buster retired from TV after filming the 1996 trilogy but appeared in panto in 1997 and 1998. He published his autobiography. In December 1997, 77 year old Buster fell over at the British Comedy Awards when he went to collect an award for David Jason. Buster quickly got up and collected the award, despite having a scratched forehead. Buster died on the 23rd June 1999 aged 78. 2 years later, in 2001, Only Fools And Horses was to film 3 new episodes, but as Buster had died in 1999, his character was written out as also having passed away. Refs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buster_Merryfield Category:Only Fools And Horses actors. Category:OFAH actors who have died.